Metropolis (1927)

The version of Metropolis I viewed this week was the more recent restored two and a half hour version, with a large chunk of it previously thought lost to the world included. It seems pointless to write too much about the film; its all been jotted down before, but for me personally Fritz Lang’s vision and application looks to have had a huge influence on J.G Ballard, a favourite author of mine. The films' dystopian and futuristic vision still looks impressive nearly one hundred years on, which is quite some achievement. Metropolis’ tackling of communism and fascism especially, so prevalent around the films' release, is something that we would all do well to analyse today, and Lang at times attempts to weave the application of common sense to peoples opinions during the film. Lang’s film may not be his best (of course that’s subjective) for me that’s probably still M (1931) but it is arguably his most influential, and without doubt his most visually striking. It remains one of the most important films ever made. 8.7/10